


Forgiveness

by SoullessSerenity



Category: Persona 5
Genre: M/M, fix-it kinda
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2019-03-31
Packaged: 2019-09-14 10:38:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16911381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoullessSerenity/pseuds/SoullessSerenity
Summary: Forgiveness isn't something you're given. It's something you earn by deserving it.It might take a while, but Goro will at least try to deserve forgiveness. Especially since a certain Phantom Thief won't stop telling him he deserves a second chance.





	1. It can't hurt to try

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo... I began writing this around September of last year.  
> The reason why I'm only posting it now is because while writing it there were times when I lost interest in it, and then when I actually sat down to write I would keep being perfectionist about it and keep rewriting a bunch of things over and over again.  
> I decided to finally post this first chapter because if I don't I may never get it done. I plan on posting the third and final chapter before the end of the year, but I won't make any promises.
> 
> And just as a warning: this first chapter is the shortest. The other two are actually pretty long.

Goro still couldn’t believe that, out of all the places that Kurosu could have gone before the battle against Shido, he went where they last saw each other.

It had been about 20 minutes since he saw the extremely showy calling card made for Shido. His intentions were to never meet any of them ever again, but if they were to die against Shido then his sacrifice would have been for nothing.

It felt kinda weird, watching Kurosu from afar as he tried everything that he could to get that metal to break. He kicked, shot, tried summoning multiple Personas, all for nothing. He looked all the more frustrated and desperate every time it failed.

“He’s just gonna end up losing all his SP for nothing this way.” He mumbled.

“You should know that we can’t undo what happened.” Morgana’s voice echoed through the room as he went down the stairs, heading towards his desperate leader.

“I know but… If there’s still any hope that he might be alive…”

“Futaba herself said that his signal disappeared along with his cognitive self. And it’s been days since we fought him. It pains me to tell you this, but there’s nothing that we can do for him anymore.”

“But…” Kurosu brought his hand to his mask one more time, summoning Arsene as he sent a curse skill towards the metal. Nothing happened.

And so Kurosu fell to his knees, Morgana could only land his paw on his shoulder.

“I really am a fool, huh?” Goro could notice, just by listening, that he was almost crying. “Out of all the people I couldn’t save, he was the most broken one.”

“Are you some kind of idiot!?” Goro said much louder than he intended after he heard Kurosu start sobbing. It ended up coming loud enough for the other two to hear.

He jumped down from his hiding spot, since they were gonna end up finding him eventually anyway, landing right in front of them.

He didn’t know what was it that brought such a huge smile to Kurosu’s face.

“You’re alive!?” The black haired boy got up quickly, trying to wipe away his own tears.

“You look… Different.” Morgana added, even with his eyes still wide.

Him being alive wasn’t the only thing that made his presence surprising to them. His costume had also changed. It looked pretty much the same as his ‘Crow’ costume, but now the mask was black, and his white clothes now had the same stripes that he had on his older black-masked costume.

“Why the hell are you even here?” Goro asked, crossing his arms and looking away from them.

“I… I wanted to see if… If there was anything else that I could do to, maybe… save you.” Kurosu said while still trying to dry his tears. The last two words came out in a whisper, but Goro heard them still.

“I still don’t understand you.”

“Huh?” Morgana asked.

“Why the hell are you even worried about me!? I tried to kill you!”

“But you still saved us in the end.” Kurosu said, shrugging as if that had erased all the bad things Goro had done in the past.

“Just… Why can’t you understand that I don’t deserve any of this!?”

“You still don’t get it, huh?” Morgana looked down.

“Get what?”

“That we have already accepted you as one of us. We are teammates, and so we want to make sure that you’re okay.”

“Huh?”

“All of the bad things you did can’t be forgiven so quickly, but that doesn’t change the fact that you were being used by Shido and that he screwed up your life a lot for you to end up that way. And if you’re willing to make an effort it may work out. And, as much as I hate to admit it... Joker was the most affected by what happened to you out of all of us. And he is… Probably…” Morgana looked away from Goro and sighed. “He is probably the only one of us that has completely forgiven you.”

“I think it’s only natural that you wouldn’t forgive me.”

“But there’s still time to start over. Don’t you want to get back at Shido?” Kurosu asked, smiling.

“I do, but why are  _ you _ even trying to get me to go with you!?”

Morgana chuckled. “Just come with us already, you know that Joker is going to keep insisting until you come along.”

Goro grunted a little before saying: “Fine. But don’t expect me to stay in the team once we are done with Shido.”

“Thank you.” Kurosu took a step forward, and seemed to be holding himself back for some reason.

* * *

They were back at the Safe Room near the elevator shortly after. It was no surprise that everyone started to throw questions their way once they saw Goro.

“But your signal disappeared! How the hell are you alive!?” Sakura asked.

“I guess I was supposed to be dead but… I think I got thrown away from the Metaverse instead of dying.” Goro explained. His memories from coming out of the Metaverse were kinda blurred, it was hard to remember them perfectly.

“And you didn’t tell us anything!?” Sakamoto asked.

“I don’t remember any of you actually liking or trusting me anyway so what would even be the point?” Goro said, and even as much as he thought “ _ I don’t even deserve to be considered part of this group. _ ” he never actually said it out loud.

“Why are you back here now?” Nijima asked.

“I saw the Calling Card and got curious.” Of course he wasn’t gonna tell it was because he was worried for their safety. It was better to keep that part to himself. “And before any of you ask, I only plan on staying until Shido is dealt with.”

“You can ask as many questions as you want later, but we’d better hurry off at once. This is the only chance that we have of doing this.” Morgana said.

Everyone agreed. Although some of them seemed uneasy, they still moved on forward without any more conversation.

* * *

They arrived at the Assembly Hall, Shido’s Shadow waiting for them.

“So you have come.” He said. “You are so damn persistent, why couldn’t you just have died?” His gaze was set on Goro, obvious hatred beaming from his eyes.

“It will take a while for you to get rid of me.” Goro said.

“To think that my very own son is conspiring against me.”

Goro forgot to breath for a moment.

“Even knowing he is your son, you made him do all of that!?” Takamaki shouted.

“It wasn’t very hard to notice.” He paused for a moment. “He acted a little too much like Wakaba.”

“Wakaba?” Kurosu repeated. “You mean… Wakaba Isshiki?”

“You mean that, Oracle and Crow are… Half-siblings?” Okumura asked.

“They are direct siblings, actually.” Shido explained.

“But mother never told me anything and I only met Crow this year. Are you trying to trick us or something?” Sakura asked.

“At the orphanage they told me that my mother had already died even before you sent me after Wakaba. Either you’re hiding even more than I thought or you think of us as fools.” Goro still wasn’t feeling angry. But the possibility of Wakaba being his mother troubled him a lot.

“I simply didn’t allow her to raise him. I even told my men to tell you that your mother was already dead. However, I was never even aware of Futaba’s existence. Wakaba sure did a great job at hiding her from me. Until you came around and volunteered to help me. And after she died I found out about Futaba’s existence, so I told my men to read a fake suicide note to her. Both of you were mistakes, you only exist because of the two times that I attempted to have Wakaba hand me her research over.”

“How could you...?” Nijima asked, eyes wide.

“So you were using his mother and then decided to start using him!?” Kurosu shouted. “Do you have any idea what you do to other people’s lives!? Don’t you even feel a little sorry for what you did to me or him!?”

Goro clenched his fists, grunting as he held himself back from jumping at Shido’s throat at that very instant.

“Don’t look at me like that, Akechi. I intend to dispose of you after the elections, depending on how you behave I can make it less painful. Did you really expect me to keep shady connections around once I’m Prime Minister? You call yourself an ‘ace detective’, but you couldn’t even see through my plan.”

“You son of a bitch!” Sakamoto shouted.

“How about I make a proposition for you, then?”

“You really think you will be able to bargain with us?” Kitagawa asked, anger obvious in his voice.

“If you swear loyalty to me, I can keep you guys around. You will get pretty much anything you want as long as you run errands for me in Akechi’s place.”

“Like hell that we’ll do that!” Kurosu shouted.

“You seriously expect us to do your dirty work after all the bullshit you already did!? And if anything what you just told us about Wakaba just lowers the chance of us accepting!” Sakamoto asked.

Shido sighed. “Looks like the masses are fated to remain as foolish as they are.”

Once their battle started, Goro was glad that he didn’t have to hold himself back anymore.

* * *

Once they got out of Shido’s Palace and Sakamoto came back, the first thing Goro did was text Shido. He just said he would stop doing things for him and left it at that, deciding to ignore any of his messages and calls from that moment on.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Kurosu asked, landing a hand on his shoulder. Of course he would have noticed Goro’s frustration, he was almost mashing his phone while typing.

“I’m obviously still angry at Shido, so I’m not completely okay.”

“If you won’t be working for him anymore, what will you do now?”

Goro sighed. “Honestly, I don’t know.” He made a little pause. “By the way, you said that Shido did something to you as well?”

Then Kurosu told him. About how he got under probation, even mentioned the time they bumped on him at the buffet.

Goro remained silent, hoping that was enough for Kurosu to notice that he thought “I guess I wasn’t the only one whose life he wrecked.” He did seem to have a gift to see right through him, after all.

“Do you want to stay with us?” Kurosu asked, smiling.

“You mean to keep being a Phantom Thief?”

“Yeah. I mean, it couldn’t hurt to keep our guard up until Shido confesses.”

It was obviously an excuse and Goro could see right through it. He wasn’t necessary for them to keep an eye on Shido.

But it couldn’t hurt to stay with them just a little longer.

“I’ll stay just until he confesses then.”

“Great!” Kurosu gave him a giant smile, one that made him feel happy for some unknown reason.

He figured it couldn’t hurt to become closer to Kurosu either, if it ever came to that.


	2. Aeon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I know I said I was gonna try and get this posted before the end of the year.
> 
> I have nothing to say for myself.

Ever since they had taken Shido’s treasure, Akira and Akechi hadn’t spoken to each other. But Akira really wanted to become closer to him. Not just the ace detective he pretended to be before, the charming boy he was in front of people and in interviews, but the other sides of Akechi as well.

Akira pulled his cell phone out, searching for Akechi’s contact. He couldn’t hold back the smile on his face as he typed.

 

**Akira:** Are you free today?

 

He awaited the reply, which didn’t take very long to come.

 

**Akechi:** Yes. Why?

 

His smile only spread even further.

 

**Akira:** Wanna go somewhere together?

**Akechi:** Together? You mean, just the two of us?

**Akira:** Yeah. I know of a few places where we could hang out.

 

He awaited the reply for about 10 minutes. He seriously wondered if Akechi was in silence as a rejection. Until he finally spoke again.

 

**Akechi:** Sure, where are we going?

**Akira:** Meet me at the Station Square in Shibuya.

 

And this time, without even waiting for a reply, he started to get changed. His rush was noisy enough to wake up Morgana.

“You’re going somewhere?” Morgana asked as he stretched.

“Yeah.”

“Where?”

“Going out with Akechi.”

“Really?” Morgana looked kind of happy about that.

“Yup. What, are you surprised?”

“No, knowing you it was to be expected that you would want to spend time with him. I’m actually pretty glad. If there’s anyone in this team that can make him start feeling more accepted, it’s you. I’ll be expecting good results.”

Akira was glad to see Morgana reacting that way. He seemed so relieved. Maybe it was because he spent some time thinking that he had nowhere else to belong as well? So maybe he wanted for the team to accept Akechi with open arms?

“Thank you.” Akira smiled at him before leaving.

 

After arriving at the Station Square and finding Akechi, they agreed on going to the Diner in Central Street. Akechi was wearing a hoodie jacket, saying it was so he wouldn’t draw too much attention to him.

They sat in front of each other at the Diner, waiting for their orders to arrive. Akira noticed how much Akechi kept looking down at the table, avoiding to look at Akira completely.

“Are you okay?” Akira asked.

“Huh?” Akechi looked up at him.

“You look troubled.”

“I’m okay.”

“Are you sure? You seemed to be lost in your own mind just now.”

“I…” And then he fell silent, looking down once again. He didn’t seem sad, or angry, but not happy either. Akira couldn’t read him.

“Whatever it is, I’ll help as much as I can.”

Akechi sighed. “Are you sure that this is okay?”

“Huh?”

“I mean, more like: Are you sure that you want to trust me?” Akechi finally looked up, and then Akira could tell how he felt: frustrated.

“You wouldn’t be worried about this if you didn’t want to be forgiven.”

Akechi was silent. But Akira decided to test his own luck in guessing what was wrong.

“The others will only need some time.”

“I’m not even gonna stay after Shido confesses, why are you still trying?”

“Can’t you just stop all this doubting already!?” Another voice, one they knew very well, called out.

They looked around to find Ryuji and Morgana were in the table behind Akechi.

“What are you guys doing here!?” Akira asked.

“I followed you to see how things were going and found Ryuji on my way.” Morgana explained.

“And we have been listening to the whole conversation.”

“And why were you eavesdropping to begin with?” Akira asked.

“I just wanted to see how things would turn out. Okay, I might have been a tad bit suspicious about Akechi. But my expectations are still positive.” Morgana explained.

“And I decided to join in. Can’t say the same about my expectations, tho.”

“Look, Akechi, if you ever need someone to talk to, you can talk to us. I can’t say it for everyone else, but me and Akira will be there to listen to you.” Morgana looked down at him from Ryuji’s shoulder. “I know that you must be feeling a little confused right now. But, whatever is troubling your mind I’m sure that if you just give us and Akira a chance you’ll find somewhere to belong with us.”

Akechi looked down once again and then there was a moment of silence.

“Don’t  _ you _ have anything to say, Ryuji?” Akira asked.

“Hm… It’s hard to admit it but I think you should have a second chance. I still can’t forgive all that you did, at least not right away, but if you’re willing to do what you can to deserve it then it will happen.” It was clear that Ryuji meant what he said about not trusting him. His slightly angry expression was completely different from Morgana’s gentle one. “Plus, I can see how Shido was the villain in this. I had a pretty shitty dad myself, but I guess it’s not that much compared to what happened to you.” He looked away from them for a moment.

“I’ll try my best.” Akechi mumbled, and Akira could finally see a slight smile on his face.

“Well, it would be better to leave you guys alone now. I have a feeling that, if he trusts you, then there shouldn’t be much to worry about.” Ryuji said that last sentence in a low voice as he turned away from them. Morgana gave them a small smile before doing the same.

Their orders arrived shortly after. Akira was happy to see that Akechi’s expression had gotten better after that conversation.

 

* * *

 

Some days had passed since they met with Ryuji and Morgana at the Diner. Akechi was still a little distant from everyone, but the last time he went to Leblanc he petted Morgana, with a slight smile on his face. Akira decided to see that as a good sign.

And since the awkwardness still existed, Akira decided it couldn’t hurt to go out with him more. He wanted to show him that he trusted him, that he could talk to him if he needed.

Classes had just ended, he texted Akechi not sure if he would be free. But luckily enough his response was:

 

**Akechi:** I’m free.

**Akira:** Great! Wanna go out with me?

**Akechi:** Again?

**Akira:** I’ll understand if you don’t want to.

 

The next response took slightly longer.

 

**Akechi:** Sure, where are we heading today?

**Akira:** How about we go to Shibuya again? We won’t eat, but we could still walk around.

**Akechi:** There’s an arcade there, right?

**Akira:** We could go there, if you want.

**Akechi:** If it’s not much of a bother for you.

**Akira:** Meet you there, then.

 

And so he took his bag and left the school.

 

He arrived at the arcade at Shibuya, finding Akechi in front of the entrance, still in that same hoodie.

“Is there anything you would like to play in specific?” Akira asked as they entered.

“I haven’t been in an arcade in a while, so there’s a few things I’m missing.”

“We could try the shooting game.”

“Sounds nice.”

Luckily the Gun About machines were empty, so they started as soon as they reached them.

 

Akechi’s score was pretty close to Akira’s, even though it was higher.

“For someone who hasn’t been in an arcade in a while you were pretty good.” Akira praised him with a smile.

“I’m still a little rusty.”

“Maybe with some practice I could introduce you to Shinya.”

“The King? You are friends with him?”

“Yup.”

“Sometimes I wonder how many people you actually know.”

“I never bothered to count either.” Akira smiled. Wondering how Iwai would react if he walked into Untouchable with an ace detective, considering his past.

“Oh, you guys are here!” Another voice called out. And they looked around to see it was Ann.

“Hey!” Akira greeted as he high-fived her.

“Hi.” Akechi’s voice was a little lower than before.

“I didn’t expect to find you here, you’re usually at the mall.” Akira said.

“I just felt like coming here today.” Ann explained before turning to Akechi. “I really didn’t expect to find  _ you _ here, though. I didn’t know that you liked arcades.”

“I haven’t come to an arcade in a while.” He was smiling at Ann. “I was… busy.” But then he turned away from her, looking down instead.

“Oh.” Ann looked down as well. “But, nevermind that! Say, are you any good at dancing games?” She smiled cheerfully.

“I’ve rarely played them.” Akechi looked up at her.

“Then how about this: me against you in Dancing Star Night. The loser has to buy a crepe to the winner and something else to Akira.”

“That seems fun. Challenge accepted.” Akechi and Ann giggled.

Akira watched as they played, Ann’s score was extremely higher than Akechi’s. It was clear from the beginning that she would win. Though Akechi seemed surprised by the final results.

“Can we go a second round?” Akechi asked.

“Nope. You’re gonna have to buy me a crepe. Akira can choose whatever he wants.”

Akechi just crossed his arms.

“How did I get into this?” Akira asked with a sigh. “Besides, aren’t you supposed to keep track of what you’re eating now?”

“I open an exception at least once a month.”

“I guess that’s okay, then.” Akira said before looking at Akechi. “Shall we go, then?”

Akechi sighed, but Akira still saw a small smile on his face. “Fine. A deal is a deal.”

 

They arrived at the crepe shop.

“So what crepe do you want?” Akechi asked her.

“Chocolate is fine.” She said.

In a few minutes he was back with the crepe.

“What do  _ you _ want?” Akechi asked Akira, a small smile on his face.

“I’m not sure. I guess bitter chocolate from the store is good enough.”

“If that’s what you want. I’ll go check if there’s any at the convenience store later.”

And so he left. Akira and Ann sat down on a nearby bench.

“He has changed a little, hasn’t he?” Ann said.

“You noticed?”

“He seems to be showing his true self now. He looked kinda annoyed to have lost the game. I bet that if he was still pretending, he would have put on a fake smile and said something like a compliment to me.”

“He still doesn’t seem very happy with the idea. But I can tell he’s at least trying.”

“Yeah. I… I want to make sure that he knows that we will be there for him now. That he can count on us. But even though he is starting to show his true self he doesn’t seem to have completely opened up yet.” She made a small pause. “I don’t… Think he thrusts us. Or maybe he just... doesn’t thrust  _ himself _ .”

“I’m sure he’ll open up and understand things with time.”

“I guess all we can do is do our best for him, huh?” Ann sighed loudly before starting to eat her crepe. “But, I’m really glad that you’re giving him a hand, you know? I’m afraid that no one would have done that in your place… Not even me.” She said that last part in a whisper, but Akira didn’t say anything. He only smiled at her and landed a hand on her shoulder. She smile back at him and nodded. No words needed to be said. Both of them knew very well what he was telling her. “I don’t want to risk letting someone else end up like Shiho. I might have failed her back then but I won’t make the same mistake with Akechi. I’ll be a good friend this time around.” Ann kept talking more to herself than to Akira. He didn’t interrupt her, choosing to just listen.

They waited for about 30 minutes. Ann had finished her crepe long ago.

“He’s taking a little too long for someone who just went to buy some chocolate.” Ann finally said.

“I’ll try texting him.” Akira said as he pulled his phone out.

 

**Akira:** Are you okay? We’ve been waiting for about half an hour.

 

They waited. There was no response. Not even a sign that he had even seen the message.

“He usually replies quickly. Maybe we should go after him.” Akira said.

“Okay.”

And so they went towards the convenience store. And once they entered, they noticed there were two high school girls talking with Akechi, who was clearly doing his best to get away from them without being rude. They could hear them from the entrance.

“So you like bitter things? That sounds so manly!” One of the girls said with a squeal.

“This is for a friend, actually. And I really have to go. He is probably waiting for me.”

“I’m sure that he can wait for a while.” The other girl said.

“Are you going to appear on TV again any time soon? I’ll definitely watch it!”

“I don’t plan on that. At least not right now.” He gave a quick glance towards the door, seeing Akira and Ann. “And I  _ really _ have to go. I’m afraid I’ve made my friends wait long enough.” He managed to take a few steps back towards the exit, but the girls started talking to him again.

Akira didn’t even care about listening to what they had to say. He went towards them.

“Excuse me.” He said rather loudly. At least enough for the two girls to notice his presence. Akechi widened his eyes for a moment, but sighed in relief right after. “I believe that he wants to be left alone.”

“What do  _ you _ want?” One of the girls asked rudely.

“I’m  _ sorry _ ” Akira obviously wasn’t, from the amount of spite that he had put in that word. “but he is my friend. And you’re bothering him.”

“So  _ this _ is your friend?” The other girl asked.

“Yes.” Akechi said as he smiled at Akira. Akira smiled at him as well, showing him kindness much different from the “rudeness” that he was showing the girls.

“Maybe you should choose your friends more wisely. Just a suggestion.” The first girl said.

“Well, as far as I know  _ he _ is the one who chooses his friends and not you. And you’re obviously bothering him even though he has already told you that he has business to attend to. So shoo.”

The two girls left without saying another word. They didn’t even look mad anymore. They just looked scared.

Akechi sighed in relief once they joined Ann outside the store. “Thanks. You saved me back there.”

“Well, you were in trouble. I had to do something.” Akira smiled. “And besides, you have my chocolate with you.” He giggled.

Ann whispered something in Akechi’s ear that made him giggle and blush a little, though Akira couldn’t hear it.

“What are you saying?” He asked.

“Nothing.” Akechi handed him the chocolate bar. “Here, have your chocolate.”

“Is she shit talking me right in front of me? Because if it is it’s not the first time.”

“How did you find out that I did it before!?” Ann asked.

“Ryuji told me. Did you really think that you could get away from saying that I probably never brush my hair?”

“Well, it does look like it sometimes.” Akechi confessed.

“So you’re bringing him to the dark side too!?”

“Well, you already know that I loved my villains.” Ann smiled.

Akira was gonna say something funny, but was interrupted by Akechi’s loud laugh. It made Akira smile. That laugh was so much more genuine than the giggles he gave everyone a few months ago. It was less controlled, too.

“Having fun?” Ann asked, giggling as she gave his arm a playful little punch.

“I… I think so.” Akechi smiled at her.

“I’m glad to know that.” Akira smiled at him.

For a moment Akira just stood there, smiling at him. Akechi looked away when he noticed. But Akira kept staring until Ann started talking.

“I’ll be going home now. It’s almost evening. Bye!” She gave Akira a devious look. She was probably thinking something that she was gonna tease him about later.

“Bye!” Both of them waved towards her.

“I guess I should be going too.” Akechi said. “I’d better catch up on the studies I missed before.”

“Can I walk you to the station?”

Akechi stayed quiet for a while. “If it doesn’t bother you…”

“Then let’s go!” He wrapped one of his arms around his shoulders and laughed. Akechi giggled a little even as he tried to avoid looking him in the eyes.

 

Just a while after they came back from encountering Ann, one of the first things she did was talk about it in the group chat.

 

**Ann:** It would be nice to gather everyone at an arcade someday, don’t you think? Specially after what happened today with us and Akechi.

**Ryuji:** What happened!?

**Akechi:** That’s a secret. Maybe I’ll tell it to you later.

 

* * *

 

 

Akechi also seemed to be opening up just a little more. Even if it was just talking more oftenly in the group chats, it was still progress.

Even though Akira thought that maybe he was calling Akechi out a little too often, he just couldn’t help himself. There was just something about Akechi that made him feel… happy and comfortable.

 

**Akira:** Wanna hang out again today?

**Akechi:** I have no idea why you like to hangout with me so much.

**Akechi:** But sure.

**Akira:** How about the planetarium?

**Akechi:** That sounds nice. I’ve been interested in going for the past few weeks anyway. Meet you at the station again?

**Akira:** Yes. See you there.

 

And so they met at the Station Square. Heading towards Ikebukuro. They took their seats and Akira couldn’t avoid noticing that Akechi’s eyes sparkled a little when looking at the starry sky of the about to begin show.

“You seem excited.” Akira said with a smile.

“D-do I?” He noticed a very light blush in Akechi’s cheeks. “I-I mean, I think it’s pretty.”

Akira chuckled at that. “You’re kinda cute.” He mumbled. Akechi’s blush increased, but didn’t say anything.

“Oh, what a coincidence to meet you here.” They heard a familiar voice say. They looked around to find Yusuke approaching them.

“Kitagawa…?” Akechi avoided looking at him, doing his best to hide his face.

“I assume that you’ve both come to appreciate the show as well. I see that you must have quite a good taste, Akechi.”

“I just think it’s pretty.” Akechi finally looked at Yusuke, the blush gone from his cheeks.

“It really is, though it is saddening that we can’t see such a sky in the city.” Yusuke said, looking a truly a little sad but still facing Akechi.

“Maybe we should go camping someday so we could see the real night sky!” Akira suggested. “What do you think?” His eyes sparkled at Akechi.

“If the opportunity arises.” Akechi smiled.

“Then it’s a deal. Someday we shall go camping.” Yusuke said as he sat down in the empty seat beside Akechi. “All of us.” He smiled at him. Akechi looked down.

The show began shortly after.

 

After the show was over, the three of them decided to go to Leblanc, since Yusuke said that he wouldn’t mind some curry.

“Oh, you’re back with your friends.” Sojiro said as they entered. He gave Akechi a weird glance once he noticed him, but it was gone almost as quickly as when it appeared. “I don’t mind if you hang out here since it’s almost close time anyway, but try not to make a mess.”

“Don’t worry.” Akira said, trying to ignore the weird glancing. “Are there curry ingredients left?”

“I’ll make the curry for you, go chat with them.”

Akira couldn’t really bring himself to reject the offer, so he just sat down beside Akechi with Yusuke sitting across from them at one of the tables.

“Boss sure is very kind.” Yusuke said as he glanced at his mother’s painting before looking towards Akechi. “Are you doing well, Akechi?”

“What do you mean?” Akechi raised an eyebrow.

“How do you feel about joining us a second time?”

“Well… I’m still unsure.”

“I see…” Yusuke looked down at the table.

There was a moment of silence between the three of them. But Yusuke decided to speak up again.

“Even though I can’t understand it 100% because we barely know that much about your past, I still think I could have very likely turned out like you, at least emotionally, if the others hadn’t been there for me.”

“What are you getting at...?” Akechi raised his eyebrow again.

Yusuke looked up at him again. “I mean to ask you to please give us a chance. Give yourself a chance. Please don’t think you don’t belong here with us anymore. At least consider it.” He sighed. “Sorry. I’m not that good in expressing my feelings into words.”

Sojiro laid down the plates of curry in front of them, then they started to eat, not touching the subject anymore and instead talking about other stuff.

 

It was near closing time after they finished eating, so Yusuke decided to leave before he missed the train.

“And hey, Akechi.” He started saying before leaving. “Please think about what I said, okay?” He looked away from him and sighed before going through the door.

Akira looked at Akechi, noticing that he was looking down at the table.

“I think that I should go home before the trains stop.” He said getting up from his seat.

“Want me to walk you to the station?” Akira suggested.

“No. Sorry, I just… wanna be alone for a while. Sorry.” He left without even looking back at Akira.

 

* * *

 

A few days had passed since they had hanged out with Yusuke. Not much had changed between them, Akira figured that maybe it wouldn’t be quite enough.

Akira texted him again.

 

**Akira:** Wanna hang out again?

**Akechi:** Sure. Where are we going?

 

Akira stopped to think.

 

**Akira:** What if you choose this time?

**Akechi:** You really want me to choose?

**Akira:** I mean, I’ve chosen the place all the times we hung out, wouldn’t hurt to see what you’ve got.

 

The next response took a while to arrive.

 

**Akechi:** Would you mind going to the movies? There’s one that I’m interested in.

**Akira:** I would love that!

 

Akira blushed when he realised how fast he had typed that. He couldn’t help himself, the thought of going to the movie theatre with Akechi just made him feel… Happy. Happier than going to the movies with any of the others.

 

**Akechi:** Meet you at the theatre at Shinjuku, then?

**Akira:** Okay. See ya.

 

Akira arrived at the planned spot, finding Akechi waiting at the entrance of the theatre.

“Should we be going?” Akechi asked.

“Sure.”

“I’ve already bought the tickets, I hope you don’t mind.”

“What movie did you pick?”

“Hm…” Goro blushed a little and stayed silent for a while before pointing towards a movie poster. “That one.”

Akira giggled a little after realising what movie it was. ‘Your Name’. A romance anime movie. He heard good things about it online but who could have ever thought that Akechi would be into it.

“I’m kinda surprised that you picked this one, honestly. But I don’t mind.”

“R-really? You don’t think it’s weird?”

“Why would I? It’s your choice. If it turns out to be bad then at least we can complain about it to one another.”

“I never had anyone to talk about this stuff. So I guess I’m just nervous.” Akechi looked at the ground.

“Well, now you’ve got someone. Me.” Akira smiled at him. “You can tell me about anything that bothers you, okay? I’m here for you.”

Akechi smiled back, blush a little stronger than before. “Thanks.” He whispered.

They remained silent for a while before being interrupted.

“Oh! You guys-” They heard a familiar voice saying, looking around to find Makoto. “Oh, sorry. I’m not intruding am I?”

“Oh, hi Nijima.” Akechi greeted in a low voice, avoiding to look at her.

“Hi. You weren’t interrupting anything. Really.” Akira said, still smiling.

“Anyway, what will you be watching here today?” Makoto smiled back.

“It’s that one.” Akira explained, pointing towards the poster.

“I’ll be seeing that one too! I didn’t know that you were interested in romance movies, Akechi.”

“I just… thought that this one would be worth giving a shot.” Akechi blushed. “And it’s not like somebody would expect you to be interested in romance movies either.”

Makoto giggled. “I guess it might have something to do with hanging out with Ann for so long. Anyway, we should go before it begins, right?”

Akechi and Akira nodded before the three of them entered the movie room.

 

When the movie ended, Akira and Makoto came out of the theatre wiping their tears. But Akechi was sobbing. Apparently not being able to stop.

“Hey, are you sure you’re okay?” Makoto asked.

“I’m fine.” He said in between sobs, trying to hide his face as much as possible. “You both cried too.”

“Yeah, but we’ve already stopped sobbing. I’m guessing you’re weaker to sad movies than you look like.” Akira said, trying really hard not to smirk or tease him. Reminding himself that they weren’t close enough to do that yet.

“Yeah, I’ve got a weak heart, so what!?”

“Hey, no need to get angry or embarrassed. Didn’t you notice that there were many other people crying in that room?” Makoto asked.

“Yeah… You’re right. Sorry.” Akechi said as he desperately tried to stop sobbing while cleaning up his tears.

Akira opened his bag and pulled out a box of tissues, handing Akechi the box.

“T-thanks.”

“I’ll get you some water.” Makoto said as she walked away, leaving both of them alone.

Both of them sat down at a nearby bench, Akechi already seeming much better than before.

“Why are you so embarrassed about this anyway?” Akira asked.

“I… I guess it’s habit.”

“Habit?”

“Yeah, I… Try my best to hide myself everytime I do stuff like this. I never wanted anyone following me and then spreading weird rumors.” He sighed. “I’ve been noticing those people less and less everyday. Probably because I haven’t been showing up on TV at all lately.”

“Isn’t it nice to have some time to yourself, tho?” Akira asked with a smile.

“I guess it is…” Akechi mumbled something.

“What did you say at the end?”

“I said ‘I guess it is nice to hang out with you’, okay!?” Akechi blushed again. He had probably beaten his blushing record that day.

“I think it’s nice, too.” Akira giggled. Akechi smiled a little.

They heard a fake cough near them, seeing Makoto had already come back.

“Am I interrupting something again?” She asked with a small smile on her face.

“No, not at all.” Akira said. Akechi just stayed quiet.

“Anyway, here’s your water.” She gave a plastic cup to Akechi.

“Thanks.”

“By the way, Akechi…” Makoto began. “Can I… start calling you Goro?”

“Huh?” Akechi asked. Even Akira was a little surprised by that.

“Well, it’s been almost a month since you joined us again. And I can’t help but feel that you’re worth our trust. Plus, I don’t think it would be fair to keep calling you ‘Akechi’ after just seeing a weaker side of you like this...”

Akechi stayed silent for a moment.

“I guess that’s okay then... Makoto.” Akechi said her name a little anxiously.

“Okay then, Goro.” Makoto smiled. “I still have some business to attend to back home. I hope we can hang out more some time.” She got up and gave Akira a playful pat on the shoulder with a smile on her face.

“I… I can call you Akira too, right?”

“Of course you can, Goro.” Akira smiled at him. The smile Akechi gave him right after made his heart beat a little faster. “You should suggest places to go out more often.”

“You really think so?”

“It would be nice to have a change of pace. I’m gonna run out of places to meet up eventually. AND, I’m curious as to what places you like.”

“I’ll take that into consideration.” Akechi -no, Goro- said with a smile.

They kept on doing small talking until the time had come for them to go home. At least this time Goro had left much more joyful than last time. Akira couldn’t help but smile at that.

 

* * *

 

A couple of days later Akira received a message from Goro. It still felt so weird to call him by his first name...

 

**Goro:** Wanna go out again?

**Akira:** You’re the one asking me out, now that’s a surprise! Where are we going?

**Goro:** Do you mind if we go to Akihabara?

**Akira:** I wouldn’t mind. Do you have any specific objective in mind with that?

**Goro:** There are just a few things that I was interested in the electronics shops.

**Akira:** Well, meet you in Electric Town, then.

**Goro:** See ya.

 

Once they arrived at Akihabara and were at the electronics shop, Akira noticed that Goro was constantly looking around. He also pulled on his hoodie as much as he could, as if to hide his face.

“Are you okay?” Akira asked.

“Huh? Oh… Yeah. Why do you ask?”

“You’ve been looking at other people a lot. Are you ashamed of being here?”

“No. That’s not it. I’m more ashamed of… What I came here to do.”

“You’re ashamed to be with me?” Akira asked, not being able to hold back the frown on his face.

“No! That’s not it!” Goro desperately moved his hands around. “It’s… What I came here to buy.”

“And what is it exactly?”

“It’s… It’s a game.”

“You’re ashamed of liking video games?”

“Well, kind of. It’s kind of like an instinct, I guess.”

“Because of the people you told me about the other day at the theatre?”

“Yeah... I haven’t been very active in the media lately, so either these kinds of people are gonna move on to other things or do as much as they can to find out what I’m doing.”

“Do you even plan to keep being a detective? Just wondering.”

Goro sighed. “I’m not sure. My entire career as a detective was built on lies. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to restart.”

“You could try.” Akira suggested, landing a hand on Goro’s shoulder.

“You really think so?”

“And even if it doesn’t work, as long as you’re doing the right thing, it should be okay. Look at the Phantom Thieves, after Okumura everyone started to hate us but we are still doing our job.”

Goro stayed silent and frowned. Akira immediately regret what he had said.

They remained silent for a couple of minutes until they arrived at the game area. Akira couldn’t help but smile at the way that Goro’s eyes sparkled when they arrived, looking around with a smile on his face. Akira looked over Goro’s shoulder to see what he was looking for, and he giggled a little when he realised it was a Pokémon game.

“Wah!” Goro looked at him with a blush on his cheeks when he heard his laugh. “What’s so funny? You were the one who said that I shouldn’t be embarrassed.”

“The funny part is that you are embarrassed because you are interested in a Pokémon game! Come on, almost everyone has played that at least once in their life! Or at least watched the anime.”

“Yeah, I like the games...”

“You have the right to enjoy yourself, you know? If anyone has a problem with you playing that then screw them.”

Goro giggled a little.

“Ah, Akira!” They heard someone shout. Futaba approached them with a smile, which immediately faded once she saw Goro. “A-Ah, you’re here too… G-Goro.”

“H-hey.” Goro waved at her while looking to the floor.

“I’m kinda surprised to see you out alone.” Akira said, trying to catch Futaba’s attention.

“Yeah, I’ve been going out alone for the past few weeks. You were never available anyway. I had to get my own stuff done somehow. And it’s not like Inari is going to accept coming with me everytime.”

“Oh, sorry.” Akira said scratching the back of his neck.

“You don’t need to apologise for wanting to spend time with him, you know?” Futaba said in a low tone as she looked at the ground as well.

Akira looked back to check on Goro. He was gone. “Where did he go?”

“I don’t know, I was talking to you it’s not like I’m gonna watch over him!” Futaba stomped her foot a little.

“H-hey, calm down! Just stop stressing! Why are you this angry all of a sudde ? I’ve never seen you like this.”

Futaba sighed and stayed silent for a moment. “It’s probably because of... Goro.” She hesitated before saying his name.

“Huh?”

“I just… Can’t be very comfortable around him… I know that I should be trying my best, that mom would want for us to get along… Maybe if we weren’t related I wouldn’t be this uncomfortable, but knowing that he killed her…”

“He didn’t know that she was his mom, he couldn’t have known.”

“I know! But… Even like that it’s like part of my brain wants to trust him while the other still finds it hard for me to see him like that... I would rather have  _ you _ as my brother.”

Akira sighed and looked around behind the shelves. He was ready to give up and assume Goro had already paid for the game and gone back home. When he saw the bathroom nearby.

“I’ll look for him. Wait here or outside the store, okay?” He told Futaba. She bit her lip and looked down as he walked towards the restroom.

When Akira entered the bathroom, it seemed empty at first. But then he heard a sob coming from one of the stalls. It sounded familiar.

He knocked on it. “Goro, are you there?”

“Go away.” Goro’s weak voice said.

“Are you okay?”

“Maybe not.” Goro said in between weak sobs.

“What happened?” There was only silence, and a few low sobs. “Is it because of Futaba?”

“Maybe…”

“You guys can’t just avoid this forever. You guys need to talk it out.”

“How do you expect me to do that? After what I did… How can you believe that she would forgive me for that?”

“Look, you shouldn’t beat yourself up so much. You’ve been doing pretty good so far. If this had happened right after we beat Shido you would have just left and gone home.”

There was a moment of silence. “You seem to know me pretty well now, huh?”

“Is that a compliment?”

The stall’s door opened and Goro just stood there in front of Akira, looking down with his face a little red from crying. Akira gave him a slight smile before hugging him. Goro almost jumped at the action, but hugged him back anyway.

“You don’t need to hide your feelings so much. At least not from me.”

“I’ve been trying to be more open. But it’s hard. I’m not used to it yet.”

“I can be patient.” He pat Goro’s hair lightly.

Goro broke the hug and looked away from him, but Akira could see a faint smile and a mumbled “Thanks.”

Akira ended up giggling a little when he looked at Goro’s face. “Your face is a mess.”

“Huh?” Goro walked up to the sinks, seeing his face on the mirror and then splashing some water on his face. “You should have told me that earlier.”

Akira giggled again as he stood beside him. “Futaba is waiting. Let’s go.”

“Oh, Futaba…” Goro looked down once again.

“Don’t think you can just run away forever. Plus, I’m gonna be there in case something happens.” Akira smiled at him.

Goro took a deep breath before they walked out of the bathroom together.

 

They went to the cashier and found Futaba outside of the store. She and Goro looked away from each other as soon as they saw each other. But Akira wasn’t gonna let them pretend they didn’t have anything to discuss.

“So, I believe it’s pretty obvious that there’s something we need to do here.” He said as he elbowed Goro.

Goro sighed before beginning. “Look, Futaba, I don’t expect you to forgive me so easily. I wouldn’t forgive myself if I were you either. Even though I am trying I don’t know if we can ever start acting like actual siblings.”

“Just stop it. It’s making me feel guilty, too.” Futaba rose interrupted him. “You can’t just act like you’re the only one who is guilty. Shido was at bigger fault than you ever will.”

“It doesn’t make it any less awkward.”

She sighed. “I’m sorry that I said those things.”

“You have no reason to apologise if it’s the truth.”

“But I don’t want to make you feel like you’re the worst person in the world!” She finally looked him in the eyes, stomping her feet once again. “I know that it’s more difficult with me than anyone else in the team for you. But I don’t think it’s a lost cause. It’ll be difficult but I think we can make this work.”

“What if it doesn’t work?”

“It really won’t work if you keep acting like this!” She sighed. “I’ve been thinking about this for weeks, ever since we fought Shido. I am also still unsure about it, but we should at least try. I’ll give you some time to think about it as well.” She turned her back to them. “And Akira, be careful not to spoil him too much, okay? Bye.” Then she turned her back towards them and left, soon disappearing through the streets.

Akira opened his mouth to tell him that he also thought it would work out, but closed it the moment he noticed that maybe it wouldn’t be good to pressure him even further. So he decided to say something else.

“I know that you can change.” He said.

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because I trust you.” He landed his hand on Goro’s, quickly moving it to his arm once he realised it.

They stayed silent for a while, until Goro spoke up. “Thanks.” He said with a smile, even as his eyes were a little teary.

Akira smiled back at him.

“I’ll go to the station and head back home. But feel free to stay if you want.”

“No need. I don’t have anything else to do here anyway. And I wouldn’t mind spending more time with you.” Akira shrugged.

“Didn’t Futaba just tell you not to spoil me?” Goro giggled.

“I’ll spoil you as much as I want.”

Both of them laughed. Enjoying their walk to the station peacefully.

 

* * *

 

A few days later Akira was just staring at the ceiling as he laid on his bed. When his phone vibrated.

 

**Goro:** Is it okay if I go over to Leblanc today? I was hoping I could talk to you about something.

**Akira:** Sure. What do you need to talk about, anyway?

**Goro:** I would rather talk to you about it in person. Anyway, I’m heading over.

 

Akira wasn’t really expecting that. He didn’t think there was really anything to talk about. But if Goro needed him, he wouldn’t mind to at least hear him out.

 

Only an hour had passed before Goro entered Leblanc.

“You got here quick.” Akira said from the sink as he finished washing the dishes.

“Well, it’s not like I had much else to do anyway.” Goro said as he sat down on his usual seat.

“I’ll make you some coffee.”

“Go on and talk to him. I’ll make the coffee.” Sojiro suggested.

“Thanks.” Akira said before sitting beside Goro. “So, what did you want to talk about?”

“I-” Goro began, but was interrupted by the sound of the opening door.

Haru entered Leblanc.

“Oh! You’re here, Akechi.” She said as she approached them. “I mean, Goro.”

“How’re you doing?” Akira asked with a smile.

“I’m good. I just decided to come for a cup of coffee.” Haru said, sitting one booth away from them.

“Will be right there.” Sojiro said.

“How are you doing, Goro?” Haru asked with a smile.

“I’m fine, I guess…”

“Huh…” Haru looked at the counter. Then there was only silence. Awkward silence.

Sojiro set three coffee cups in front of them. “You have one, too. You’re doing a good job.” He said.

“Thanks.” Akira said.

The three of them started to drink their coffees while nobody said a word.

“You said that you wanted to talk to me about something, Goro?” Akira asked, desperately trying to start a conversation.

“I…” Goro began. “I think it’s a conversation we would much better have alone.”

“I will try not to bother, I swear! But if there’s anything I can help you with I will be happy to.” Haru said.

“I don’t know…” Goro said.

“Hey, you won’t make much progress if you don’t open up to the others as well. You promised Futaba you would try. And I doubt she meant trying only with her.” Akira said as he elbowed him lightly.

“I guess it can’t hurt…” Goro stared into his coffee cup. “Do you really think that this is working?”

“What do you mean?” Akira asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Are you sure that we should be doing this? That I deserve this?”

“Yes.” Akira said quickly.

“Why?”

“I don’t want for you to feel unwanted, okay? It’s already much better than when we started, it wouldn’t be good if you started to go backwards on that progress.” He took a sip of his coffee. “Besides, I really like hanging out with you. And after a couple of days I got to see your cute smile much more often.” He still held the cup near his mouth, as if it was gonna make the light blush on his cheeks disappear.

Goro blushed a little as well, and Haru giggled a little.

“What’s so funny?” Akira asked, blush deepening slightly.

“Ah! Sorry. Nothing, just… The two of you.” She giggled again.

“I still don’t get it.”

“Just forget that I laughed, okay? It’s nothing that you should worry about.” She smiled at them. “But Goro… Can I tell you something?”

“What is it?” Goro asked, looking at her.

“I did have mixed feelings when you joined the team again, but now that I see how worried you are and after hearing all that the others have told me, I feel much more certain. I… Can’t forgive you about my father, but I might be able to forgive everything else. I know that you can become a better person. So… Don’t beat yourself up so much.”

Goro stayed silent for a moment, until a small smile appeared on his lips. “Thanks.” He looked towards Akira. “I was actually a little better already. But I wanted to make sure at least the two of us were on the same page.”

“I’m sure you’ll be fine.” She said before getting up. “I need to go now, I’ve got some business to take care of. Thanks for the coffee.” She went towards the door, looking back and smiling at them. “And I agree with Akira. Your _real_ smile really is cute.” She said before leaving.

“She’s a little too nice for her own good.” Goro said still smiling.

“It’s just how she is.” Akira giggled. “How do you feel knowing I’m not the only one?”

“I’m still a little worried, but… I do feel a little better. I should remember to thank her properly later.” He looked down at his mug yet again, mumbling something.

“What did you say?”

“Nothing.” Goro said as he got up, blushing a little. “I should be going now as well. Thanks for listening to me.”

“Anything you need, anytime.”

Goro giggled before heading towards the door. Akira smiling at him all along.

Sojiro chuckled, making Akira almost jump from his seat.

“What’s so funny?” He asked.

“Nothing. Just teenagers these days.” He could see a light smirk on Sojiro’s face even as he turned away from him.

He could hear Morgana giggling as well. “Is that what I look like when I look at Lady Ann?”

“I don’t get what any of you are talking about.” Akira pouted and blushed as he got up.

He couldn’t hide it for long once he got in his room, though. He knew very well what they were thinking. It’s not like it was his fault if Goro was so pretty, specially smiling… He was only guilty of liking him too much. It wasn’t like he was even trying to hide it at this point, but he couldn’t help to be embarrassed if others pointed it out and laughed. They obviously didn’t mean harm, but his cheeks would still heat up.

It had been becoming harder and harder to hide it from Goro, though. With those times that he would “accidently” hold his hand, or when he would compliment him while blushing. He would need to tell him sooner or later, he couldn’t hide it forever…

 

* * *

 

Two days later Akira hadn’t asked Goro out. Goro hadn’t asked him either. He thought it was okay, that was until the night came and he realised that it had been an incredibly boring day. He didn’t get anything to do after school except help around Leblanc. And it ended up being one of those days were not a single costumer had anything interesting to say.

He doubted that Goro would be available at night. So the only thing that came to mind was probably go to one of his part-time jobs. He hadn’t shown up in any of them for almost a month, and he could use some extra money. He decided to go to Crossroads, it was one of the jobs that he enjoyed the most. He liked talking with the customers a lot, and also with Lala.

 

The night was being quite enjoyable, he had kind of forgotten how much he liked to work there.

“I found it weird that you weren’t coming here lately. Were you busy?” Lala asked once most of the customers started leaving.

“Yeah, kind of. Hanging out with friends a lot.” Akira had a smile on his face. He and Goro did only hang out during the day, but it’s not like Lala needed to know that.

“I guess it’s good to have some fun when you’re your age. As long as you’re not getting into trouble, that is.”

“Thanks.” Akira chuckled a little.

“Though it is quite a shame that you decided to come on a day were almost no one came over. I bet some of the regulars you talk to would love to see you again.”

“Hey, someone might show up at anytime, I’m staying here until my shift ends.”

And just a few seconds after he said that the door opened. Akira was slightly surprised to see Goro there. And even more that he wasn’t wearing his hoodie anymore, instead dressed pretty normally, hair on a short ponytail.

“Glad you’re still here.” Goro said as he took a seat in front of him. “I hope you don’t mind if I get some water?” He asked Lala, who started getting to work.

“You knew I was here?” Akira asked, leaning his arms on the counter.

“I went to Leblanc but you weren’t there, then Morgana told me you work here sometimes.”

“Makes sense.” He chuckled. “But it’s the first time I see you at night. Do you have some sort of nighttime hobbie I don’t know of?” He smirked and leaned closer, his face only a few centimeters away from Goro’s.

“Of course not, you fool.” Goro giggled as he gave Akira a light slap on the shoulder, causing him to go back a little. Akira did notice a light blush on his cheeks.

“I have no idea what’s going on between you two but don’t stay out for too long. It’s almost time your shift ends anyway.” Lala said as she set the cup with Goro’s tea beside them on the counter.

“Nothing shady going on here, Lala-chan.” Akira giggled.

“Whatever you say.” Then she turned away from them, heading towards some other customer.

“I like the new hairstyle, by the way.” Akira said, leaning close again. Not as close as before, but still closer than usual.

“I’m glad you think so.” Goro said in a low voice, looking at the counter with a smile and blushing again. “I wasn’t feeling like hiding too much today.”

Akira spent a while just watching as Goro drank his tea. He did miss seeing Goro without that hoodie hiding his hair. And it was refreshing to see him like that again even if it was in a ponytail. He also loved to see him smile again, and the blush on his cheeks. It just made him think about how much he wanted to kiss that big idiot.

Then Goro lifted his head, looking into his eyes as he smiled.

“Stop staring, it’s embarrassing.” Goro giggled.

“It’s not my fault if you’re so pretty.” Akira smirked, words coming out of his mouth automatically.

Goro giggled and his blush deepened. Akira caressed his cheek lightly, without even thinking. Once he noticed it he thought about removing his hand, but Goro held it where it was and kept smiling. Only then Akira had noticed that he didn’t have his gloves on, so their hands were in direct contact with one another. He smiled, even while his heart beat faster and he felt like he had butterflies in his stomach.

“Hey, your shift is over. You need to go back home. You too.” Lala said, surprising both of them. Akira looked around and noticed that the other customer had left. Just for how long had them been staring at each other?

“D-don’t worry. Thanks for the watet.” Goro said as he blushed even more and took his wallet, leaving the payment on the counter right after. “Wanna head to the station together?” He asked looking at Akira.

“Sure. Just wait a little.”

Goro left the bar and Akira started to take off the apron. He planned to go out right after, but Lala started talking to him.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” She asked, holding some money in front of him.

“Ah, thanks. Almost forgot. Seeya!” He started to head towards the door, but was interrupted yet again.

“Is he your boyfriend?”

“Huh?” Akira felt his cheeks warm up. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He looked away from her.

“I’ve seen many teenagers hanging around outside this district. It’s quite charming, how innocent young love can be.” Lala smiled.

“It’s not like that! At least… Not yet.”

“If you want to know my opinion, I think that you should go for it. I doubt it will end badly.”

Akira just stood there in silence for a while. He knew that he had to tell Goro how he felt at some point. He did try to wait for his feelings to fade back when they were at Sae’s Palace and it didn’t help. And Lala would never joke about this type of stuff. He would love it if Goro felt the same way about him. And when he thought about it, he couldn’t think that Goro would have reacted to his caress that way if he didn’t feel  _ something _ . But that could very well be just him being too optimistic.

Lala giggled a little. “Maybe even if you don’t do it now he might tell you himself eventually. But if you just keep waiting it won’t go anywhere. Do the things you need to do while you still can, boy.”

Akira remained silent for a moment, then sighed. “Thanks.” He headed out, finding Goro leaning against the wall.

“Ready to go?” He asked with a smile.

Akira only nodded, then they started walking. He kept thinking about what Lala had said. She was right. Even if it did lead into heartbreak, he had to say something eventually. He had already fallen for Goro months ago, his past self would be screaming at him for not doing it now that he could.

“Hey, can I… Can I ask you something?” Goro asked him and stopped walking suddenly. Akira raised an eyebrow.

“Sure.” Akira shrugged.

“Would you mind it if I stayed with you guys even after this is over?”

Akira giggled. “Of course not.”

“You also wouldn’t mind if we kept going out together, right? Maybe even more often?” There was a light shade of pink on Goro’s cheeks.

Akira felt a light warmth on his cheeks. “Not at all.”

“Good.” He mumbled and looked away.

Akira chuckled and laid his arm across Goro’s shoulders. “After so long you seriously thought I wouldn’t want you around anymore? Did you forget I was the one who insisted for you to stay?”

“You could have changed your mind.” Goro shrugged.

“I you stay with you forever if I could.” Akira mumbled.

“Huh!?” Goro looked at him again and blushed.

“N-nothing!” Akira stepped away from him, blushing as well.

“Does… Does that mean what I think it means?”

“It depends on what you think it means…” Akira looked away.

“Do you like me? More than just a friend?”

Akira’s heart skipped a beat at the question. He took a quiet deep breath before replying. “I wouldn’t have said that if I didn’t, would I?”

Goro looked at him in a way Akira couldn’t exactly tell how he felt, but he seemed kinda happy.

“So, how do  _ you _ feel?”

“I’m… Not really sure, actually…” Goro looked down.

“It’s okay if you need some time. I can wait.”

“Maybe I do need time…” Goro still didn’t look at him. “Do you… Mind if we still go to the station together anyway?”

Akira chuckled. “Of course not.”

Goro looked up at him again and smiled before they started walking towards the station once again.

It wasn’t exactly the confession Akira was expecting, but he was still happy to get that weight off his shoulders.

 

* * *

 

Akira received a message from Goro while eating breakfast the next day.

 

**Goro:** I thought about what you said last night. I have an answer, but I’d rather tell you in person.

**Akira:** You can come over anytime.

 

“Hey, don’t text while you’re eating.” Sojiro said, startling Akira a little. “It doesn’t matter if it’s Akechi, it still doesn’t give you the right to do that, you know?”

“How did you know it was him?”

“Firstly that even though you may read messages while eating you usually don’t actually respond until after you’re done. And secondly because you smiled right after reading it. It’s pretty hard to get both of those reactions from you.”

Akira chuckled as he put his phone back in his pocket. He decided to just go back to eating his curry.

 

An hour later Goro had entered Leblanc, blushing a little once Akira turned around from washing the dishes to look at him.

“Hey dad, do you mind if we go upstairs?” Akira asked as he smiled towards Sojiro.

“If you’re done with the dishes, then feel free to go. And stop calling me dad.”

“Sorry, that is something that I won’t be able to stop doing.” Akira laughed.

He held Goro’s hand and brought him upstairs. He led him all the way to his bed, on which both of them sat down.

“So?” Akira began and couldn’t help but smile at Goro.

“Well…” Goro blushed as he talked. “I… I do actually like you, too. I’m not really sure if it will work out but…”

Goro would have kept on talking if Akira hadn’t interrupted him with a kiss as he held his hand. Goro didn’t object, though.

He blushed even more once their lips parted. Akira giggled at how cute it was.

“Warn me next time you do something like that!” Goro said.

“You’re gonna have to deal with it now.” Akira smirked. “I love you.”

He kissed Goro without warning again, but he seemed less shocked this time. He even held his other hand.

That kiss would have lasted longer if they hadn’t been interrupted by the loud ‘kya!’ that came from the stairs.

Both of them quickly looked to see who it was. Seeing Morgana standing there, paralysed with his jaw open.

Goro made an ‘eek!’ and let go of Akira’s hands. Akira only pouted.

“What the hell…” Morgana said, then started to talk so fast that not even he seemed to know what he should say. “For how long- When did you- When did it start!?”

“Why the hell are you so surprised? You were the one saying I liked him a few days ago.”

“I didn’t expect to find the two of you kissing! And that doesn’t answer any of my questions!”

“Can you please not tell anyone?” Goro asked, still blushing.

“Okay, okay. I still don’t get what is going on here, but if that makes you more comfortable then fine.”

“Could you just leave us alone now?” Akira asked.

“Please don’t worry about that. I need to leave anyway.” Goro said as he got up.

“Aww… Where are you going?” Akira asked as he got up and pouted.

“Sae said that she needed my help with some case she has been working on. I didn’t actually expect that we would end up getting that... Sidetracked. Sorry.”

“Okay. We can finish that some other day.” Akira kissed his cheek, before whispering “Honey.” into his ear.

Goro went down the stairs, blushing once again.

Morgana looked at Akira and gave him a small smile before going downstairs as well.

 

* * *

 

There was only one day left before the election results and there were still no news on Shido. There hadn’t been any confession yet and that was making everyone very uneasy.

Akira was obviously extremely worried. There were a few hours left to his bedtime, but he doubted that he would be able to sleep.

His phone vibrated in his pocket. He sighed as he took it, it would probably help him take his mind off all that.

 

**Goro:** Are you okay?

 

Akira smiled. It was almost as if Goro  _ knew _ that he wasn’t feeling very well.

 

**Akira:** Not really… I’m worried.

**Goro:** Me too…

**Goro:** Do you think it will work?

**Akira:** I think it will. But  _ when _ it will work is a different story…

 

There was no immediate reply. The dots just kept appearing and disappearing constantly. Akira bit his thumb’s nail a little.

 

**Goro:** Do you think you can come over?

 

Akira raised his eyebrow before typing.

 

**Akira:** You mean to your place?

**Goro:** Yeah. I can tell you where I live if you’re okay with coming.

**Akira:** Why do you want me to come over?

**Goro:** I just think I might feel better if you’re with me.

 

Akira giggled.

 

**Akira:** You’re adorable. Of course I’ll come over.

**Goro:** Thanks.

 

Goro sent him the address to his apartment right after. Akira couldn’t help the wide smile on his face once he started shoving a couple of things into his bag.

 

Something like an hour later he had arrived and waited outside Goro’s door. Smiling when the door opened and Goro blushed a little once he saw him.

Then in a few minutes they were both sitting on the couch, talking about nothing in particular. And that was enough to make Akira feel way better than how he was feeling back at Leblanc.

But then in the middle of the conversation Akira noticed that Goro seemed a little… weird. He didn’t seem unhappy but he was still constantly moving his fingers on the couch, restless.

“Are you okay?” Akira asked.

“Yes. I’m just… Not used to this yet.” He looked up at Akira. “But I am happy that you’re here.”

Goro leaned his head on his shoulder and Akira chuckled, holding his hand in response.

“I’m glad you called me over, though. I doubt I would be able to sleep tonight anyway.” Akira leaned in closer to him with a smile, making Goro’s cheeks turn a light pink.

“I also wasn’t managing to fall asleep and… I wanted to see you.”

Akira gave Goro a light push, so that he was lying on the couch. He laid down as well, laying his head on his chest.

He let his eyes close, just paying attention to Goro’s breathing and heartbeat. Eventually he started running his fingers through Akira’s hair, letting out a little yawn at some point.

“We shouldn’t sleep here.” Goro said.

Akira groaned a little and pouted, looking up at him with his best sad puppy eyes.

Goro chuckled. “C’mon, I’ll lend you some clothes if you need.”

“Fine…” Akira forced himself to sit up.

Goro chuckled, standing up and then pulling Akira’s hand to get him off the couch.

Akira wrapped his arms around Goro’s neck, smiling at him. Goro wrapped his arms around his waist, leaning his head on his shoulder.

“We should be going to bed, y’know.” Goro said, even though he didn’t move a single inch away.

“Hey, why so pushy?” Akira giggled, raising Goro’s head to look into his eyes. “Though I guess we did leave some business unfinished at Leblanc the other day.”

He smirked and Goro blushed, but didn’t say anything. He just grabbed Akira by the arm and led him to his room.

“You look so cute when you blush.”

“Shut up.” Goro mumbled.

Akira just giggled. At that point he wasn’t expecting to sleep much anymore.


	3. Starting Over

The next day Goro and Akira headed to Leblanc right after both taking a shower. As much as Akira would have loved to have more alone time with Goro, Shido was the main problem.

They entered Leblanc and Goro let go of Akira’s hand as soon as they stepped in, noticing that everyone else was there.

“You spent the night together?” Futaba asked, raising an eyebrow.

Akira only nodded and Goro blushed.

“They’re going to announce the next Prime Minister today… We better keep our fingers crossed.” Morgana said as they all looked at the TV.

As soon as Shido appeared on screen Goro stopped breathing for a moment, only managing to breath easily again once he asked to be arrested. His body felt so much lighter at that moment.

“We can rest easy now.” Goro said as he drank his coffee.

“I really would have liked to use insomnia as an excuse to sleep over at your place more often, though.” Akira said in a low voice and pouted, and Goro ended up choking a little on his coffee.

“You don’t need an excuse to come over.” Goro said as he tried to pretend nothing had happened a moment ago.

“So you don’t mind if the others get suspicious?” Akira whispered to him with a smirk.

Goro only blushed.

“There’s no reason for the two of you to keep whispering to each other. It’s pretty damn obvious that you’re dating, so you’ve got nothing to hide from us.” Ann said with a smile.

“How the hell did you find out!?” Goro asked.

“You guys don’t really hide it that well.” Ryuji said. “I’ve still got mixed feelings about this, but it’s your love lives, not mine.”

“I also ended up seeing you two kissing in Central Street the other day.” Makoto said.

“Honestly, I would be more surprised if you  _ weren’t _ dating.” Haru said with a giggle.

Goro only covered his face with his hands as he blushed. Akira did giggle a little.

* * *

 

Of course the people working with Shido wouldn’t let them have a true celebration. Of fucking course. They only spent a few days with the weight off their shoulders and now they still had to clean Shido’s mess. Goro was obviously frustrated by that. And he had even thought about going out with Akira for Christmas.

“Of all the days that we had to deal with this, did it really have to be on Christmas?” Akira asked to no one in particular, but obviously knew that Goro was the only one who heard it.

“I’m just as disappointed as you are.” Goro said. “But there’s nothing we can do about it.” He sighed.

“I hope we can get this over with soon. I was actually planning for us to go somewhere today…”

“You had plans?” Goro knew that this kind of conversation shouldn’t be happening at such a serious time, but he was glad that he could take his mind away from all that had been troubling him ever since they saw the prisoners. Or even since they had talked with Sae.

“Yeah… Nothing much, really. Just maybe going to a restaurant and going either to your place or mine.” Akira sighed. “But I guess we’ll need to do it some other day, huh?”

Goro smiled at him. “I wouldn’t mind if you came over again tonight. Maybe you can come over after we are done with this.”

“You wouldn’t mind?”

“No.” Goro made a little pause. “I actually even bought you something.”

“You were planning on giving me a Christmas gift?”

“Yeah.” Goro blushed.

“Now I feel bad for not buying you anything…”

“Just spending time with you is good enough…”

“Aww, you’re so cute.”

“No I’m not.”

“Yes you are.”

“Could you two stop flirting back there? We don’t have all the time in the world, you know?” Ryuji asked and only then Goro noticed just how far they were from the others.

“We were not flirting!” Goro said.

“Yes we were.”

“Shut up!” Goro’s blush deepened and he rushed to catch up with the others in an attempt to hide it from Akira. But by the way he was smirking he very likely saw it anyway.

* * *

 

When they were forcefully sent back to the city Goro couldn’t even describe how he felt about the state of the city and the people. It was like nothing had changed for them. Did they really think it was normal for the world to be that messed up?

Soon enough he noticed that his legs weren’t able to keep him standing anymore. He fell to his knees like the other Phantom Thieves, holding onto Akira’s arm, desperately wishing it was all just a bad dream and that he wasn’t hearing them all scream as they disappeared. Tears almost came out of his eyes as he started to disappear as well, only hearing Akira’s voice calling for him and then disappear as he fell unconscious.

At that moment he truly thought it was the end. But after only a few minutes he woke up in the Velvet Room.

He was laying down on his cell bed, only when he sat up he realised that he was in his Phantom Thief clothes instead of the prisoner clothes he wore the first and only time he was there.

The door of his cell had completely disappeared as well. And Igor had his back turned to him, his desk now facing the cell opposite to his.

It took a little while for him to understand what was going on. Being there once again just made him space out for a moment. Until he realised who Igor was talking to.

Akira stood in front of his desk, wearing prisoner clothes, facing him and the twins. Goro couldn’t tell if Akira was scared or angry, maybe both.

“What the hell is going on?” Goro asked, finally stepping out of his cell.

“Goro?” Akira mumbled in surprise, before glaring at Igor once again. “Where are the others!?”

“It looks like you have both failed your missions. That sure is unfortunate.” Igor said, without ever changing his tone or expression. Seemingly not even caring about what either one of them had to say.

“Don’t ignore me!” Akira shouted.

Goro went to his side, holding onto his shoulder. “I would like an explanation as well.” His voice was calm, but he glared at Igor.

Igor just kept saying things about how Akira had failed his “rehabilitation”. Goro didn’t really understand it very well. But his final announcement was very clear to everyone in the room.

“Execute them both.”

Goro could tell that Justine and Caroline were hesitant. But they didn’t seem to have much of a choice.

“I want to know what’s going on here!” Akira shouted at him, suddenly changing into his Phantom Thief costume after being engulfed by blue flames.

“It is truly disappointing to see the type of people that you decided to associate with, detective.” Igor said, not even listening to what any of them had to say about it.

Although that wasn’t the right moment for it, Goro couldn’t help but wonder why Igor thought he had the right to say he was disappointed. He only talked to Goro once, when he gave him his powers. Akira had told him about meeting Igor quite often, sometimes even when he didn’t really choose to. But why would Igor guide Akira and not him?

His mind was so full of questions that he was unable to focus on fighting Justine and Caroline, who didn’t look like they were gonna hold back against them despite their previous reaction. They seemed to be focusing on him instead of Akira for some reason, too. So he got beat in almost no time, falling unconscious. Not only because he got distracted but also because he seemed unable to move.

Soon he woke up to find that Justine and Caroline were gone. Instead, another blonde girl in a blue dress was there along with Igor. Akira hugged him right after he opened his eyes.

“What happened?” Goro asked, still feeling slightly dizzy as he held onto Akira

“Turns out the Igor that both of us met wasn’t the real Igor.” Akira said with a smile.

Goro looked over at Igor. He didn’t look any different.

“I apologise for whatever trouble my impostor might have caused you.” Igor said. It was very easy to notice the difference in his voice.

“And who are you?” He looked at the blonde girl.

“I’m Lavenza.” The girl began to speak. “I had been split up by Yaldabaoth, creating Justine and Caroline,  but Akira managed to bring me back to my former self. I owe him a lot for that.” She smiled at Akira. “I’m very surprised to see you here, though. All the others were sent to other cells, outside of this area, since they don’t have the same skill of having multiple Personas that you have. Actually I… Didn’t expect you to be here at all.” She looked down for a quick moment, but returned to her previous calmness right after.

“Now that I think about it, weren’t you in the cell behind Igor?” Akira asked.

“It’s the same cell I was in two years ago. But when I woke up now it had no door.”

The three of them looked towards Goro’s cell.

“What happened to the door?” Akira asked.

“Just like with your cell, the cells in here lose their door once the detent breaks free from the ‘prison’ within their hearts. Maybe yours has no door anymore because you already broke free from it before today?” Lavenza looked at Goro, analyzing him.

“I think I might have…” Goro mumbled in thought.

Maybe he had broken free from some sort of prison. Before the beginning of that year, he had spent so long hiding his true self from everyone around him, about two years just doing everything Shido told him to. Later he began to reject his own feelings of wishing he had friends like the Phantom Thieves.

But after all of that, even if there were still things left to do, he did feel like a huge weight had been lifted off his chest after Shido confessed. He felt like he could be himself with the Phantom Thieves. And he was glad that they were closer to being actual friends now.

Of course the cell was empty, it no longer had an owner.

“Just standing around here isn’t gonna change anything. We’d better find the others now.” Akira said as he landed a hand on Goro’s shoulder. “You ready?”

“Yes. I’m right behind you.” Goro said as the headed out of Igor’s room

When looking for the others, Goro didn’t expect to be met with them facing their own self doubts. He somehow found a way of helping them along with Akira. But he also didn’t expect any of them to show him so much kindness and to even smile at him or just thank him even though he had done nothing special.

“Hey, Goro… I’m sorry about the way I treated you the past few weeks. We should hang out sometime after this is over. You might not be as bad as I thought.” Ryuji said, even smiling genuinely at him.

“Goro, we should go have some crepes together later. You know, just you and me. I want to get to know you better.” Ann said, also smiling.

“You should smile more often, Goro. I’m sure it would do for a great painting if you ever feel interested in modeling for me.” He thought Yusuke’s request was kinda weird, but he knew that the boy meant no harm.

“Goro… You may not realise it but you helped a lot just by telling me the truth. Thank you.” Makoto told him. Though she avoided looking at him as she said so.

“And Goro… Thanks.” Futaba said looking away from him as well. He didn’t exactly know what she was thanking him for, since he had only asked her something that just happened to help her.

“You’re actually much kinder than you give yourself credit for, Goro. You did help me a lot just now even if you didn’t notice.” Haru smiled at him as well. A small smile but still a smile. He didn’t exactly understand what she meant by ‘kind’.

And he was extremely relieved to find Mona safe. The cat smiled at him just like the others did, but he didn’t question it.

Although everything about the whole story with Yaldabaoth and Igor was quite a lot to take in, Goro decided to just keep moving and worry about it later. There were more important things to worry about.

* * *

 

Having Lavenza there to recharge their energies was the only thing stopping Goro from getting exhausted. And even then, he refused to switch places in the team with the others. He did appreciate their worry, but that was a battle he wanted to fight himself.

He was just so angry to know that Yaldabaoth had just used him the same way Shido did. He refused to let anyone else carry that burden for him.

It took a while, but they were finally going to face Yaldabaoth. Goro and Akira walked a little ahead from the others.

“Are you sure you can keep going?” Akira asked, walking behind him.

“Yes I am.” Goro didn’t even look at him.

“You didn’t switch with anyone ever since we began. Aren’t you tired?”

“No. I’m not letting someone fight this battle in my place.”

“Look, I know how you feel.” Akira stopped walking and held both of his shoulders, forcing Goro to look at him. “He used me too, remember? But if you get too hurt I won’t hesitate to switch you out. We’re all together in this.”

Goro sighed. It wasn’t only his battle. He did know that he could count on them, but his instincts made him do otherwise. Maybe he needed to learn how to rely on others a little more.

“Fine.” Goro looked down at his feet.

Akira smiled and then kissed his cheek, which made Goro’s face warm up.

Then they resumed their walking, shortly arriving face to face with Yaldabaoth.

* * *

 

Akira received a message from Goro right after talking to Sae. He couldn’t blame him for that, they did talk about how they had plans for that day, after all. Wasting an opportunity to enjoy the night would be stupid. But he still didn’t want to tell Goro about his conversation with Sae. He would rather save him the pain.

After going there so many times, Akira had memorised enough of the way to Goro’s apartment to go there with almost no orientation, so he arrived quite quickly.

Goro had asked for him to wait in his bedroom. And after a while he came back with something in his hands, handing it to Akira.

“You didn’t need to.” Akira said, even as he smiled as he started opening the gift.

“I waited two weeks for this thing to arrive. I won’t admit refusal. Specially not after you talked about it for three hours.” Goro sat down beside him on his bed.

He finished opening it and saw it was the novel about Arsene. He smiled right away. He had told Goro that he really liked it when he borrowed it from the school’s library but couldn’t afford it for himself. He set the book aside on the table by the bed and then hugged Goro.

“You’re squishing me!” Goro giggled.

“Thanks! I love it!”

“It’s the least I could give you. It isn’t really that hard to find.”

“Well, I never had the time to actually search for it.”

“And I saved you the trouble, you’re welcome.”

“Again, thanks.” Akira sat back on the bed. “I’m glad we can spend this night together.”

“Yeah…” Goro looked down. “We won’t see each other for a long while after this, right?”

Akira’s eyes widened. “W-what do you mean?”

“You seriously thought that I wouldn’t think about what would happen after this? Did Sae talk to you after Mementos disappeared?” Akira only nodded to him, looking away. 

“Then that saves me lots of explanation. So… If there’s anyone in this team who deserves to go to jail, it’s me.”

“Not gonna happen.”

“Why not!?”   


“I’m the leader of the Phantom Thieves. If I turn myself in then the police will see it as case closed. If  _ you _ turn yourself in, it’s gonna be a scandal. I’m a nobody. I don’t have things like a fanclub. If you turn yourself in then people may not calm down at all. And the entire point of me turning myself in is to make it seem like it’s over.”

“But I  _ killed _ people! You didn’t kill anyone.”

“They do all still think that we killed Okumura, so that info is irrelevant to them.”

“I can just tell the truth and you’ll all have your names cleaned!”

“Unless they actually believe if you tell them that you’re the leader. If not, then they will still try to hunt us down!”

Goro groaned. “You’re so fucking stubborn!”

“Like you’re one to talk!”

“What if this is the only way that I can pay up for what I did!?”

“Why can’t you just let me protect you!?”

“Maybe because I don’t deserve it!? Or just don’t need it!?”

“This is the only way to keep you safe, okay!? And even if you turn yourself in we’ll need to explain a lot of shit to Sae.”

Goro grunted once again. Akira just sighed.

“Look, can we please calm down? I don’t want to fight with you on Christmas.” Akira asked.

“This is already a fight.” Goro kept looking away from him.

“Goro… Please let me do this for you. You’ve gone through a lot already. I don’t know what it may do to you when you’re still so unstable and we’ve just finished getting back at the people who hurt us.”

“You talk like you don’t have any chance of being affected as well.”

“I do, but we’re in different situations here. You’re not so stable yet. And even if I am affected there are lots of people out there who will send me back on track if I take the wrong path. And I’m not saying I don’t think the others would be kind to you as well but I just… I think it would be better for you if you tried to become friends with them so you have more than just me to help you when you need.”

Goro remained in silence for a moment, then sighed.

“I can’t say you’re completely wrong, so fine.”

“Thanks.” Ren held his hand softly and gave him a small smile. “Can we go to sleep now?”

Goro just nodded.

He borrowed Akira one of his pajamas and they were soon on the bed. Akira just laid down in silence for a while, before reaching out for Goro and hugging him. He had his back turned to him, but Akira could tell he was crying when he heard quiet sobs. He just cuddled closer to him. He didn’t want to see Goro sad, but he wanted to protect him and the other Thieves much more.

* * *

 

Goro was at Leblanc after he woke up. After having to explain everything to Ryuji and the others, he was trying really hard to hold in the frustration. Tears threatened to leave his eyes. Akira was a stubborn idiot. Goro still thought it should have been him, but at that point he knew that discussing it for any longer wouldn’t have done anything to change Akira’s mind.

Then when everyone else started to think about how they could get Akira out of jail, Goro wiped his tears. There was no time to cry, crying wouldn’t do anything for Akira. They had to do something.

He could start digging up some info on Akira’s case on his own. Maybe there was something he could find that Futaba couldn’t.

After discussing with the others, the first thing he did when he got home was contact Sae and ask her to help him. He knew it could be dangerous to go into it alone, afterall. He sighed in relief when she accepted, and made plans with her to start as soon as possible.

He may not have been able to convince Akira not to do anything, but he was gonna do all he could to help him out.

* * *

 

A few weeks later they had been informed that Akira now could receive visitors. Goro went there as soon as he could (and as early as visiting hours would allow him). He hadn’t even thought about what he was gonna say to him. He just wanted to see Akira again, make sure he was okay.

Once he saw Akira through the glass, he couldn’t help but smile, and also couldn’t stop some small tears from appearing in his eyes.

“Are you okay?” Akira asked, a small smile on his face, but he could see that his eyes were more worried than happy.

“Yes. Just glad you’re okay.” At least compared to how he was when Sae interrogated him.

He had no wounds that he could see. He was just as pretty as he was the last time they saw each other.

“I’m glad you’re not shouting at me.”

“Why would I be shouting?”

“You know, because you thought you should turn yourself in instead of me.”

“Oh…” He looked away from Akira for a second. “It’s not like I’m not angry anymore. I  _ am _ angry that you’re in there instead of me. But, now that it has happened there’s nothing we can do about that.”

“Yeah…” Akira sighed.

“We’re all doing our best to get you out of there.” Goro looked into his eyes, more determined than ever.

“You’re trying to get me out?”

“We’re doing what we can. Researching on the case about you and Shido, some of your other friends are helping as well.”

“See? I told you.”

“You’re lucky.” Goro envied him for having all of those people to help him. For actually talking with those people in the first place. He wondered if someday he would ever be good enough to have that many people care about him.

“I’m even more lucky to have  _ you _ .” Goro felt his cheeks grow warmer.

“Thanks.”

They spent as much time as they could talking about things happening with their friends, and sometimes Akira would mention something that had happened in the prison. Until security had come up to tell them that visiting hours were over.

“Love you!” Akira said as Goro started leaving. Now saying that in front of security was very unnecessary and possibly dangerous. Akira obviously loved Goro’s angry and blushed face, from the way he giggled at it.

* * *

 

The day Akira came back from prison, Goro ended up crying in front of everyone at Leblanc. He could hold back enough not to rush and hug him, but the tears of joy were something different.

“Did you miss me that much?” Akira asked with a smirk.

“Of course I did you idiot.” Goro mumbled, not looking at Akira anymore.

“You know that we’re not gonna laugh at you if you hug him, right?” Ryuji asked Goro. “You’re one of the people who worked the hardest to get him here, so you more than deserve it.”

Goro remained in silence. He did want to hug Akira and never let him go again, but it was already embarrassing enough that he couldn’t stop crying in front of everyone.

Then Akira sat down on the booth beside him, hugging him right after. Then the tears rolled down even more. He was happy that Akira was okay. Happy that it was finally over.

* * *

 

Before any of them noticed it was Valentine’s Day. There was only a month left before Akira had to leave.

That night Goro just stood in front of Leblanc. Not really knowing what to do. It’s not like they  _ had _ to meet that day. He didn’t even bring him anything. They had been dating for about 2 or 3 months already, sure, but they hadn’t had any proper romantic holidays together yet. What had happened on Christmas wasn’t exactly a ‘proper romantic holiday celebration’.

The door opening startled him a little.

“Are you just gonna stand there and do nothing all night?” Akira asked with a smile. “Come in.”

Goro entered with a light blush on his cheeks.

Sojiro tossed Akira the keys as soon as he saw Goro coming in. “Have a good night, you two.”

Morgana smirked at them as he left with Sojiro.

“Why did they leave so quickly?” Goro asked as they sat at one of the booths, facing each other.

“Well, it is a holiday for couples. And also my dad’s birthday.”

“Which dad?”

“The one that looks kinda like Yusuke.”

“Oh.” Goro sat down at one of the tables. “Still, is leaving couples alone normal?”

“Have you really never spent a romantic holiday with anyone before me?”

“No.”

Akira giggled. “Here. I made these for you.” He handed Goro a small package.

“What’s this?”

“Chocolate.”

“Oh… I didn’t bring you anything.”

“Don’t worry. There’s still White Day left. And I'm fine with whatever gift you give me.”

“Then again, you didn’t give me anything  _ physical _ for christmas so I guess that now we’re even.”

“You’re saying I’m not gonna get anything from you on White Day?” Akira pouted, obviously not actually sad with that.

“Maybe yes, maybe not.” Goro smirked.

They both laughed.

Goro still found it a little hard to believe that anything that happened after almost dying in Shido’s palace was real. He had spent a long time deceiving all of the Phantom Thieves and yet there he was now. Spending Valentine’s Day with their leader.

“What are you thinking about?” Akira asked.

“H-huh?”

“You’re smiling a lot.”

“Is that bad?”

“No. I like your smile.”

Goro blushed and Akira was the one who smirked this time.

“You get embarrassed so easily.”

“No I don’t.”

“Yes you do.”

“You get embarrassed sometimes as well.”

“Oh yeah? Then just go on and try.”

“You’re really cute when you laugh, y’know?” Goro said with a teasing smile.

Akira blushed.

“See?” Goro giggled.

“I didn’t blush because of you. It’s just really hot in here.”

“Oh, really? You sure?”

“Shut up.” Akira mumbled. Goro giggled again.

“And I thought I didn’t want to date you.”

“What did you say?”

“Wait, I said that out loud?” He blushed a little.

“Yes.”

“Then just forget it.”

“Wait, you actually thought about dating me when we were enemies?”

“No.”

“That was a little too quick to be convincing.”

Goro sighed. “Fine. It is.”

“Explain it a little.” Akira grinned, resting his elbows on the table and his head on his hands.

Goro sighed again. “Well, when we first met I still didn’t know you were the Phantom Thieves. I only actually found out when I saw you at Okumura. And before I found that out I was… starting to think about dating you. But then when I actually found out I just shut those types of feelings away as much as I could. And that kind of ended up making me even more angry at everything and everyone. But then I ended up joining you guys again. And everyone got so accepting… I ended up forgetting all of the things I was actually angry at.”

“I’m glad you came back to us.”

“Thanks…”

“My turn?”

“You’ve gone through something similar?”

“Yeah. I thought you weren’t that big of a deal before you joined us. And we did figure out your scheme right away before that. But still, every time I saw you fighting Shadows and things like that I just… I wanted for good things to happen to you. And for some weird reason I only realised that I cared A LOT about you when we thought you had died. And only actually realised I loved you sometime around when we started hanging out again.”

“I guess both of us went through some suffering in this, huh?”

“Yeah.”

They remained silent for a while. And it was… kinda awkward. Goro didn’t really know what to say or do next. The only thing that really came to mind was…

“Can I sit beside you?” He asked Akira.

“Sure.”

So he got up and sat beside him. Automatically landing his head on Akira’s shoulder. He didn’t really feel like talking about those things anymore. He just started feeling tired.

“You mind if I sleep here today?”

“No. Though I don’t know if the bed will be big enough for the both of us.”

“I can sleep on the couch if it is.”

“No you can have the bed.”

“No. The room is yours. We don’t even know if it will be too small yet.”

“Fine then.” Akira yawned. He was probably just as tired as him.

Goro smiled. Just sitting beside him made him feel like he was home.

* * *

 

The day had come for Akira to go back to his hometown. When Goro woke up, he wasn’t in his bedroom, or Akira’s. It was the Velvet Room. He was just standing up, a little far from Igor’s desk.

“Good morning.” Lavenza smiled at him. He was still trying to process what was happening. “Do not worry. This won’t take too long. I just wanted to give you a message.”

“Message?”

“Yes. Akira probably told you that this room has disappeared for him. He doesn’t need our help anymore. At least not for now.”

“It’s going to disappear for me as well?”

“No. At least not yet.”

“Why? Did I do something wrong? Though I wouldn’t really trust me if I was in your place either.”

“No. That’s not it. It’s more like…” She looked at her feet for a moment, only to then look at him again. “We weren’t able to help you in any way. The only time you had entered this room before becoming friends with Akira was when that god had already replaced my master and split me. And I feel… bad that I wasn’t able to do anything for you in the same way I did for Akira. So I asked my master for a favor: to allow me to help you in anyway I can if you ever need. As trivial as it may be.”

“You don’t need to do that.” Goro smiled at her.

“I know I don’t  _ need _ to. And I really shouldn’t. I don’t intend on becoming too attached to you or your world, but I’ll be there to assist you in case you need it.” She smiled at him. Igor had remained silent all along, but Goro heard him chuckle. “I wish you the greatest of luck, Goro Akechi.” He returned her smile.

And then he found himself in his bed, alarm clock making noise beside him.

* * *

 

Goro was happy for Akira, knowing he would finally get back to his parents and be finally free from what Shido forced him to go through. But the thought of having him so far away for so long was a little saddening.

The Phantom Thieves all spent a while at Akira’s house. Not so long since they didn’t want to go back too late, but it was long enough for Goro to notice Akira’s dads were really nice people. So he knew Akira would be happy. Morgana even asked if Akira actually needed him to stay there. Goro did notice his dads looked at Morgana in a weird way every time he talked, but he decided to just shrug it off.

Akira had suggested for Morgana to stay with Goro, but Goro declined. He would already have all the other Thieves and Lavenza with him, and he thought Akira should have some more of them than just objects to remind him that they would always be there for him.

A while before arriving at Akira’s house they had all agreed to have Goro as the replacement leader while Akira was away. He actually wondered if he would be as good as Akira, but he decided to first try his best before making difficult questions.

He was starting over, and he thanked Akira for that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has actually been ready for like... Maybe even more than a month. But I was both procrastinating and being kinda nervous about posting it. I don't even know why since I actually felt this one turned out better than I expected...
> 
> But I still thank you for reading until the end.


End file.
